The Limits of Our Grace Are Those of Our Temptation.
God's grace is proportioned to our patience, and He sets boundaries for our trials, reminding us of His faithfulness in times of suffering.
Francois Fenelon preaches about the limits of our grace being the same as our temptation, emphasizing God's faithfulness in not allowing us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. He encourages trust in God's sovereignty in proportioning suffering to the patience bestowed by Him, likening it to the ebb and flow of the ocean where God sets the boundary for trials. Fenelon highlights the tendency for individuals to feel overwhelmed by future trials and the grace prepared to meet them, but reassures that God is always in control, ensuring that the waves of life will not engulf us beyond what we can handle.
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LETTER XXXVII.
The limits of our grace are those of our temptation.
I sympathize sincerely with the sufferings of your dear sick one, and with the pain of those whom God has placed about her to help her bear the cross. Let her not distrust God, and He will proportion her suffering to the patience which He will bestow. No one can do this but He who made all hearts, and whose office it is to renew them by his grace. The man in whom He operates, knows nothing of the proper proportions; and, seeing the extent, neither of his future trials, nor of the grace prepared to meet them, he is tempted to discouragement and despair. Like a man who had never seen the ocean, he stands, at the coming in of the tide, between the water and an impassable wall of rock, and thinks he perceives the terrible certainty that the approaching waves must surely engulf him; he does not see that he stands within the point, at which God, with unerring finger, has drawn their boundry-line, and beyond which they shall not pass.
God proves the righteous as with the ocean; he stirs it up, and makes its great billows seem to threaten our destruction, but He is always at hand to say, thus far shalt thou go and no farther. "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." (1 Cor. x. 13.)
Sermon Outline
- God's Grace and Temptation
- The Limits of Our Temptation
- Faith in God's Faithfulness
- God is faithful and will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability
- God's faithfulness is a comfort in times of trial
Key Quotes
“God proves the righteous as with the ocean; he stirs it up, and makes its great billows seem to threaten our destruction, but He is always at hand to say, thus far shalt thou go and no farther.” — Francois Fenelon
“God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.” — Francois Fenelon
Application Points
- We can trust God's faithfulness in the midst of suffering, knowing that He will not abandon us.
- God's grace is tailored to our ability to endure suffering, and He will not give us more than we can handle.
- We can find comfort in God's guidance and protection, even in the midst of great trial.